


Sometimes a loss is a win in disguise

by stjarna



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Meet Cute AU, losing a bet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:22:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25993612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stjarna/pseuds/stjarna
Summary: Prompt: Chara A was playing a game with their friends and lost, as a result they were told that they had to ask the first person they saw out on a date.Ship: Fitzsimmons
Relationships: Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons
Comments: 10
Kudos: 75
Collections: Bus kids related fics by stjarna, Fluffy and Funny Fics by stjarna





	Sometimes a loss is a win in disguise

**Author's Note:**

> Big thank you to @dilkirani for the beta.

“Nooooooo,” Jemma balled her fists, staring in shock as Daisy’s bowling ball hit the pins in the perfect spot, gaining her a strike and definite victory.

“Yas!” Daisy screamed, raising her fists triumphantly into the air.

Jemma dropped her shoulders. “Ugh, why? Why did it have to be bowling? Of course you would win.”

Daisy jumped with her legs slightly apart, swinging her hips side to side, and stirring an imaginary soup. “‘Cause it’s my birthday, it’s my birthday, it’s my birthday.”

Jemma squinted. “It was your birthday three weeks ago!”

Daisy pointed at her. “Which is when you were at that dumb conference, missing out on all the fun at my part-ay!”

Jemma sighed deeply. “Alright, fine, I owed you a belated birthday celebration, and it was your pick, but why did we have to add a ‘loser has to’ to the game? Bowling and drinks should have sufficed quite nicely.”

Once again Daisy started her little victory dance routine. “‘Cause it’s my birthday, it’s my birthday, it’s my birthday—and I got to make the rules, and I thought adding a ‘loser has to’ would be hilarious—which it is.”

Jemma dropped her head back, before looking back at her best friend. “Ugh, you are seriously going to make me do this, aren’t you?”

Daisy grinned widely, an evil glimmer in her eyes.

“And it has to be the first person I see?” Jemma asked.

“Yes.”

Jemma exhaled sharply. “Fine.” She looked around the somewhat deserted bowling alley, her eyes spotting a young man three lanes down. “There. Him. I’ll ask him.”

Daisy gave her two thumbs up. “Good luck.”

Jemma stared disgruntledly at Daisy before making her way to the lonely gentleman.

“Hello,” she announced herself once she’d reached his table.

He looked up, a wide smile spreading across his face. “Hello, love, what can I do for you?”

Jemma took a deep breath, crossing her arms in front of her chest, despite the fact that she knew her posture may come across as a bit rude. “I was wondering if you would like to have dinner with me sometime.”

The man raised his eyebrows in confusion. “Come again?”

Jemma put up her hands defensively. “I realize this may seem like a bit of an impromptu proposition, and to be quite frank, I’m only asking because I lost at bowling and this wager was attached to the game.”

He pointed at himself. “The wager to ask me out?”

Jemma ticked her head to one side. “Well, the first person I saw, to be precise.”

He pursed his lips, nodding in understanding. “Ah, well, love, I feel flattered, but I’m afraid my ex-soon-to-be-not-ex-wife would probably not approve.”

“Oh,” Jemma scoffed. “Well, presumably not.”

“In fact, this is my stag night.” The bloke leaned against the backrest of his seat, stretching out his legs, and crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Jemma looked around at the empty table the man was sitting at, seemingly all by himself. “It is?”

“Yes, apparently when you get married for the second time to the same woman, some people feel like you don’t need another stag night.” He pressed his lips into a thin, closed-mouthed smile. “It’s just me and my best man tonight. Bowling. Doesn’t get more thrilling than that.”

“Well, it was nice of your best man to take you out at least,” Jemma remarked, though she wasn’t entirely sure why she was still holding a conversation with the stranger.

“Oh, he didn’t want to either—but because he hates social gatherings in general, not because it was a second stag night.” The guy shrugged. “This was my idea—the only one he agreed to—begrudgingly.”

“Well—still, he—” Jemma began, when another male voice interrupted her.

“Here you go,” the second man said, handing the bachelor a pint of beer.

“Hey, why don’t you ask him?” the bachelor suggested, gesturing at his best man. “He’s the second bloke you saw.”

Jemma eyed the other man up and down, who looked vaguely familiar. “Oh, I suppose that makes sense—if the first person I ask declines, I should presumably—”

“Wait,” the best man interjected, looking wide-eyed back and forth between Jemma and his friend. “What’s going on?”

The bachelor gestured at Jemma. “This English rose here lost a bet and has to ask the first bloke she sees—”

Jemma raised her index finger importantly. “Person—gender was not specified in the bet.”

“—first person she sees out on a date,” the guy corrected himself. “Since Bobbi would presumably kill me if I accepted, I thought she should ask you instead.”

“O-o-or—” the best man interfered, waving his index finger nervously in the air, “she already fulfilled her bet, because the bet only stipulated that she had to ask the first person she saw.”

Jemma pursed her lips. “A very good point—Daisy never specified what would happen if the first person declines.”

“Oh, come on.” The bachelor fanned his arms out to the side. “Where would be the fun in that? You should ask my man, Fitzy, here.”

“Hunter, why the hell would she—?” the best man tried to interject, but his friend didn’t let him finish.

“His name is Leopold Fitz, but he doesn’t like his first name, so he goes by Fitz.”

“Hunter,” Fitz tried in vain to get his friend to stop.

“He’s from Glasgow, but moved to the States three years ago for work,” Hunter continued his sales pitch. “He loves monkeys, but don’t hold that against him. It’s really quite endearing if you think about it. He’s an engineer, studied at Glasgow, got his Ph.D. at Cambridge, in his spare time he loves to—”

“Hunter, just cut it out,” Fitz yelled even louder, gesturing with one hand at Jemma. “Why the hell would she want to—?”

“Cambridge, really?” Jemma jumped in, smiling excitedly. “I got my Ph.D. there, too.”

Fitz’s head shot in her direction. “Really?”

“Yes,” Jemma nodded. “Biochemistry.”

“When did you graduate?” Fitz asked, curiously.

“2004.”

He fanned his arms out in disbelief. “We were there at the same time.”

“What?” Jemma laughed. “How did we not meet then? Engineering and Biochemistry often had mixed events.”

Fitz rubbed the back of his neck. “I was a bit of a loner back then. Probably didn’t leave my flat long enough to meet you.”

“Wait,” Jemma pointed at him, as she realized why he looked so familiar. “Were you at the conference in Boston three weeks ago?”

His eyes lit up. “Yes, I gave a paper on—”

“— pharmaceutical engineering and drug delivery,” they both said at the same time.

“I knew you looked familiar.” Jemma couldn’t help but smile widely. “That was one of my favorite papers at the conference.”

“Really? Thanks.” Fitz cleared his throat, gesturing nervously at her. “Did—did you—you didn’t present?”

Jemma scrunched her nose and shook her head. “Not this time around, but at the next conference in—”

“Alright, you two,” Hunter suddenly piped up. “How about we consolidate our bowling lanes, double the number of participants at my stag night, you two can keep talking—let’s call it a pre-date, and then you’ll go on a real date some other time.” He gestured at Jemma with two hands. “You fulfil your bet, and your friend will probably remind you for the rest of your lives that that bet was how you found your soulmate.”

* * *

P.S. And Daisy totally did.

  
  



End file.
